MistClan's Journey
by Tangledbracken
Summary: MistClan is what is left of SkyClan. On a journey to seek help from ThunderClan's great leader, Firestar, MistClan must face perilous dangers. But the forest itself is in danger, and suddenly it is up to the cats of MistClan to save them all.
1. Prologue

•PROLOGUE•

Of _course_ it was this way. Of course he had to die.

Tigerstar writhed and thrashed, trying to escape the invisible bonds that held him down.

_No! No! _He wanted to scream. _Nothing holds me down! I am the great Tigerstar! _

Eventually, he stopped kicking. Taking a deep breath, he closed his eyes and thought.  Opening his eyes, those great, glowing, amber eyes, he smirked to himself.

"Bones will smother the forest." He hissed.

And so they would.


	2. Chapter 1

·One·

"MistClan, to me!" The small, gray leader called. The few cats of MistClan, the remains of SkyClan, gathered around her in the small, cramped gorge.

"Heatherstar?" A big, burly black tom called out. "What is it?"

"We must leave the gorge!" Heatherstar yowled. "Prey is scarce, and our kits are dying. We must go to the legendary ThunderClan leader, Firestar, so he can help us survive."

"But Firestar is long dead!" The big tom meowed. Several cats nodded in agreement. "He must have died moons ago." The big tom continued. "And our life in the gorge here is not so bad. We will survive, as MistClan!"

"The rats have come back." Heatherstar hissed. "And they are here to destroy. They are angry after the last battle. They will stop at nothing to kill and destroy. We must leave and seek out the lake cats!"

A murmur came up from the gathered cats.

"We can fight the rats." An elder protected hotly. "We can win. We've done it before."

"Back then we had many cats!" Retorted Heatherstar. "Now we have few. Our warriors are hungry and weak. We cannot win this battle."

"Then we just leave?" An apprentice squeaked nervously.

"Yes, Rosepaw. We leave." Heatherstar meowed. "Those of you who wish to stay, stay! But I am leaving, along with those who follow. You who stay shall perish. It is a leader's job to care for her Clan, but how can I care for a Clan that does not wish to be cared for? No. You are on your own if you choose not to run from danger."

Heatherstar leapt from the rock, landing nimbly on her four paws, and padded towards her den on the top of the gorge. Uneasy muttering swept among her Clanmates like a wildfire after she had departed.

"She can't be serious!" The elder who had spoken earlier piped up. "She's bluffing!"

"But Heatherstar doesn't lie, and besides, the rats are coming back. They're more dangerous then ever." A queen meowed nervously, curving her body around her two kits as if to shield them from danger. "We might have a better chance of surviving with the forest cat's help."

"Mousedung!" The elder growled, twitching his nose irritably. "We were more then a match for them last time. We can beat them again."

"We cannot do such a thing, Tinyfoot!" The queen gasped.

"We can." Tinyfoot argued. "I was there last time, Sparkflower."

"As a kit!" Sparkflower flashed back, the fur on her neck bristling until she looked twice her size. "I have decided to leave with Heatherstar with our kits." She announced, the fur on her neck lying flat again as she calmed herself.

"To your own suffering." Tinyfoot grumbled.

"I will go as well, with my mate." The big tom murmured softly, giving Sparkflower an affectionate lick on the ear. "I would follow her to the sundrown place and back."

"Thank you, Gorsebracken." Sparkflower gave her mate a purr and licked his muzzle quickly.

Gorsebracken nodded but didn't reply, watching a lithe she-cat with the same eyes and pelt as him.

"Morningfrost?" He asked quietly, a hint of fear in his strong voice.

The pretty she-cat hesitated, then stepped forwards to stand beside her brother. "I will stay with Gorsebracken and Morningfrost." She announced. "Though I feel that this is wrong, I would never abandon my brother."

Gorsebracken purred and gave his sister a long lick.

Cats grumbled and stepped over to join trio. Four cats remained.

The red she-cat and the small gray tom stepped over quickly. The elder Tinyfoot hissed and lashed his tail.

"I has lived here all my life and I'm not leaving!" He wheezed, then hobbled into the cave that served as the elder's den.

The other cat, a scrawny brown she-cat elder, glanced around anxiously and followed. Two brown apprentice's darted forwards and helped her away.

Sparkflower sighed.

"That means four of our Clan are staying. Tinyfoot and Redrose are old, anyways, but we are losing two strong apprentices, and Whitepaw will be devastated." She meowed wryly. "How I wish Heatherstar were not making us leave the gorge!"

Gorsebracken twined his tail with hers.

"We will survive this, and live many moons to come, until we become elders and join our ancestors in death." He meowed, his low, rumbling voice carrying across the clearing.

Heatherstar bounded down from her den, her blue eyes sparkling with a fierce light, and yowled to her Clanmates, kits and warriors alike.

"We are MistClan, and we shall live!"

· · ·

"Mother, I don't want to go away." The small, white and black kit whined.

"We don't have a choice, Birdkit." Sparkflower meowed gently, grooming her kit's fur. "Do you want to stay with grumpy old Tinyfoot?"

Birdkit shook her head vigorously. "No! He'll make me get his fleas!" She protested. Then she started to tremble.

"Will we die?"

Sparkflower flattened her ears.

"No, we won't, Birdkit. We have your father to protect us, and all the Clan." The queen continued to wash her protesting kit.

"And I'll protect you!" A black kit meowed, pretending to claw an enemy.

"You'll do no such thing, Bramblekit!" Sparkflower scolded him. "Put away your claws before you hurt somebody!"

Herding the freshly cleaned kits together, she let them eat some freshkill. Gorsebracken watched them play, then padded over to his mate and meowed softly, "What if they do die, Sparkflower? Danger awaits us on this journey."

Sparkflower bristled and spat.

"Are you saying that I can't take care of my kits?" She hissed, narrowing her pretty green eyes.

"No, I'm saying that this journey is dangerous. Maybe you should stay here."

"Never!" Sparkflower growled, then padded away to gather her kits.

The medicine cat, Windstorm, gathered up traveling herbs for his Clanmates. Sparkflower's kits growled and complained about the taste, but the rest of the Clan gulped the leaves down willingly.

Heatherstar watched the goings-on silently, taking her traveling herbs without a single word of complaint. Or any other words.

Sparkflower grunted with distaste. The herbs tasted as bad as mouse bile smelled. She chewed the tangy and bitter mix of flavors, resisting the urge to scoop it out of her mouth with a paw. Her kits finished and started to wrestle energetically.

After she had swallowed the last of the herbs, Heatherstar leaped down from the rock she had perched on.

"We shall leave now." Their leader announced, eyeing the cats who were staying speculatively. "Tinyfoot, Redrose, Mintpaw, Weatherpaw...?"

The four cats shook their heads and padded into the elder's den.

Heatherstar sighed.

"We shall miss you all!" She called. "MistClan, depart!"

The journey had begun.


	3. Chapter 2

·Two·

The few cats of MistClan had been following the river for days.

"Mother, I'm hungry!" Birdkit mewed pitifully. Sparkflower licked her ears, unable to say anything.

"Sparkflower, feed them." A ragged looking she-cat meowed, her soft voice trembling. "It will do us no good to have two dead kits on our paws."

Sparkflower nodded and padded up to Heatherstar at the head of the party.

"Heatherstar, may we rest? My kits are hungry, and..." Sparkflower began, but she was cut off my Heatherstar's raspy meow. "No.... We cannot stop here, in rat territory, besides, there is nothing to eat here...."

Sparkflower dipped her head and did not say anything more.

Gorsebracken sighed. They had been going on for many moonrises with hardly any rest and freshkill. Two apprentices and an elder had died when the rats had attacked. Many were injured. Three kits had died of starvation. Their mother, Trembleleaf, had been devastated and simply dropped dead.

Only half of MistClan remained alive.

Birdkit groaned and fell to her paws, panting heavily, her eyes wild with fear. Bramblekit nudged his sister with his muzzle desperately.

"Birdkit? Birdkit?" He mewed, his voice choked. "Don't die, Birdkit! Don't die like Mistkit and Featherkit and Wingkit! Please!"

Birdkit let out an agonized choke. the scrawny she-cat raced over and nudged her to her paws. Sparkflower let out a cry and whipped towards her kit, grabbing her by the scruff and lying her in a patch of warm moss. She started to lick the kit's black and white fur, her tongue rasping over the dirty clumps. The scrawny she-cat snatched up some moss with her jaws and trotted over to the river. When she came back, the moss the soaking with fresh water.

Dipping her head gratefully, Sparkflower took the moss and started to dribble it into the kit's mouth. Bramblekit looked on nervously, licking his sister's clumpy fur with his tiny tongue.

Birdkit finally came too, blinking her blue eyes and looking around. Then she mewed faintly, "Where are the rest of the Clan?"

Sparkflower looked around.

MistClan was gone.

· · ·

Gorsebracken crashed through the bushes, yowling.

"Sparkflower! Bramblekit! Birdkit! Darkwing!"

It was no use. They had disappeared.

Heatherstar sat waiting in the clearing. Her Clan were resting around her, passing around a thin squirrel. Watching his leader sitting there as is nothing had happened made him furious.

"Why aren't you doing anything?" He yowled, fluffing out his tail until it was twice it's normal size. "How can you sit there pretending nothing has happened???"

"I am not pretending nothing has happened, and I would like it is you stopped hissing at me, Gorsebracken. Remember, I am your leader." Heatherstar mewed coldly, her ices chips of ice.

"Some leader!" Gorsebracken retorted angrily, unsheathing his claws and digging them into the boggy earth. "You don't even care for your Clanmates! All you care for is yourself!"

There was a gasp of shock from the assembled cats. Deputies had certain authority and were allowed to speak their opinion to leaders, but never, never had someone insulted a leader like this.

Heatherstar's eyes flashed.

"Gorsebracken, I would like to speak to you." She hissed, her ears flattened against her head. "Alone."

Gorsebracken nodded and followed.

· · ·

"What will we do?" Darkwing cried. Her eyes were wild and her tail was fluffed .

"I don't know!" Sparkflower yowled. "Let's try following the scents."

They tried and tried, but the misty morning had washed the scent trail away. Even Bramblekit searched. But to no avail.

"They're gone!" Darkwing yowled. "Gorsebracken and Heatherstar and Hopepaw! Gone!"

· · ·

"Gorsebracken." Heatherstar meowed, her voice icy, but calm. "Will you please explain your actions?"

"I said what I had to, Heatherstar. My family is missing!" Gorsebracken bristled and spat.

Heatherstar snarled.

"You will obey my orders! Your family and Darkwing are lost forever!" She hissed, her eyes blazing with fury. "I have half a mind to demote you and choose a new deputy!"

"Do it! I don't care! I'm leaving MistClan forever!" Gorsebracken turned and raced into the trees.

· · ·

Morningfrost, Gorsebracken's sister, had been chosen as the new deputy of MistClan. Gorsebracken was presumed dead. Heatherstar had supposedly banished him from the Clan forever.

The MistClan cats whispered among themselves. Things were not going well for the traveling Clan.

· · ·

Gorsebracken stumbled through the ferns. His pads were bleeding badly from running over the stony river bed, and he left a wet trail of blood behind him as he raced away.

He was escaping everything- his Clan, his friends, his sister, his life.

But his family meant so much more.

Gorsebracken raced on.

He couldn't fail them now.


End file.
